


When Dusk Falls

by celestialdusk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cryptid Hunting, Cryptids, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, really just a mix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-08 09:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11643354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialdusk/pseuds/celestialdusk
Summary: It all started when Ms. Evanescet vanished without a trace six months ago. Unexplained disappearances have been occurring ever since, and no one has been found. It is starting to appear that the cases could be connected, but the police seem to not care. Strange things are afoot in the sleepy town of Altea Falls, and the group is going to get to the bottom of it, no matter the consequences.





	1. The Woman in Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda has a Stranger Things vibe to it tbh

_Beep. Beep. Beep._ The strident sound of the alarm cut through the air, jolting the teenager from his sleep. He rolled over from the position in his bed, groaning as he did, to look at the clock.  _7:00 AM_ , it read in red luminescent digits. He grabbed his pillow from under his head and placed it over his face and ears, trying to drown out the raucous noise. It still pierced through the air, but it was at least somewhat muffled from under the pillow. He began to slowly to drift off again.

"Keith Kogane! Get down here! You're going to be late for school!" A voice yelled from down stairs.

"Five more minutes!" He groaned back.

"Keith, breakfast is getting cold! Come on!" Another voice shouted.

"Fine," Keith grumbled, removing the pillow from his head and sitting up. He rubbed his face to wake himself up, and pulled the covers off. He swung his legs around the side of the bed and dug his toes onto his carpet, curling them as he did. 

"Keith!"

"I'm coming!"

He stood up and stretched to the ceiling, attempting to reach it with the tips of his fingers (even raising his heels in an attempt to make himself taller). When he couldn't, he sighed in disappointment and made his way downstairs, yawning as he did. He sat down at the kitchen counter next to his stepbrother contently digging into a plate full of eggs.

"Keith, you aren't even dressed yet!" A woman from the kitchen said.

"Aw, lay off of him, Mom," his stepbrother said, ruffling Keith's hair as he did. "He stayed up late looking up Bigfoot sightings again."

"I did not!" He protested.

The person simply took a sip from his coffee mug, a smile playing on his lips. 

The woman from the kitchen set a plate of eggs in front of Keith. "Eat up."

Keith picked up his fork and began eating his food. He glanced to the newspaper on the counter next to the plate. A large headline was plastered across the front, reading,  _Two More Missing Since Last Incident_. He was tempted to read the article further, but he already knew what it entailed. It would state that two more people were missing, maybe link them back to the other recent cases, then say the police are looking for any information on any of the cases. He shoved it away from him.

He finished his eggs and headed back upstairs to change. He pulled on a shirt plastered with the words "I WANT TO BELIEVE" and tied a flannel around his waist. He laced up his shoes as quickly as he could and raced back down the stairs. His father and stepmother were just leaving the house for work.

"Have a good day, you two," his father said. "Don't get into too much trouble."

"We won't," Keith said.

"Takashi, honey, remember to pick up the eggs on the way home."

"I will, Mom," his stepbrother replied. 

She kissed the top of his forehead. "See you guys tonight!"

With that, Keith's father and stepmother were gone, leaving him and his stepbrother alone.

"Come on, let's get going," his stepbrother said. "You want a ride?"

"Of course I do, Shiro."

"Just making sure."

Shiro grabbed his keys off the hook and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He stepped outside and to the car parked on the curb, and Keith followed suit. Shiro got into the driver's side, and Keith in the passenger side. A fog clung to the ground outside, but it was light enough that it was still safe to drive. Shiro started the car, and they began to drive down the quiet roads to the school. Keith stared at the window, watching the quaint houses zip by them. Many had perfectly manicured lawns, flowers arranged beautifully, and sprinklers going off in the early morning. Keith knew that the ones that didn't were recently empty houses, with their previous residents nowhere to be found.

"So, uh, do you want a ride home?" Shiro asked.

"I've got Cryptid Club after school with Pidge today. I'm sure Matt will give us a ride home, or Pidge and I can walk home."

"Sounds good. Just be home by the curfew."

The curfew. A recent rule put in place in an attempt to reduce the missing persons rates. Of course, it did nothing to reduce the number of people vanishing and only made the town folk more irate than they already were about the situation. Despite this, the curfew still stood in place.

"We will. It's not like we have much of a choice, do we?"

"I suppose not."

They rode in silence the rest of the way to school. When Shiro pulled into the parking lot, Keith nearly jumped out of the moving car. 

"Hey! Careful there!" Shiro said. 

Keith fell back into his seat. "Sorry."

Shiro parked. "Now you can get out."

Keith hopped out of the car and landed onto the asphalt. He sprinted off to the throng of people while yelling back, "thanks for the ride, Shiro!" He quickly caught up with the horde and slowed his pace to a walk. He was about to place the headphones around his neck over his ears when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, emo!"

He turned around and scanned the area for the source of the voice. His eyes settled on a person much shorter then them, with hair that seemed to defy gravity. She wore large, round spectacles that were far too large for her face. Small freckles were dotted over her cheeks, creating constellations across her face. She wore a mischievous grin that stretched ear from ear, warning others to not mess with her. She wore a tank top with the Nasa logo plastered across the front, and an olive green jacket (the dress code forbid those from showing shoulder blades, and because she was a freshman, teachers were much more strict about it around her). Her backpack was slung on one shoulder, nearly knocking over most people as she shoved through the crowd to reach Keith. Despite being the shortest person around, most cleared out of the way. If they didn't, she would forcefully move them out of her way.

Keith broke into a grin. "Heyo, Pigeon."

She punched him playfully on the arm, but light enough so it wouldn't leave a bruise. "Great to see ya. Heading to our locker?"

Keith nodded. "Sure am."

Pidge, as she was called, looped her arm that was free from her backpack through Keith's. "Lead the way."

They weaved their way into the building, pushing their way through the horde to reach Keith's locker. The layout of the school was quite simple. One main hallway that had three small branches on each side. Each branch covered a different subject area. The three branches on the left covered English, science/math, and social studies. On the right, it was world languages, art/music, and other electives. At the end of the hallway was the gym and the pool. In each hallway, lockers lined the walls. Keith and Pidge were lucky enough to be in the one of the main hallways, a luxury the younger students (freshmen and sophomores) got to enjoy. Soon enough, Keith and Pidge had reached their locker. Keith quickly spun the combination lock and swung the door open. Keith shifted his backpack to the side so he could reach and open it, and unloaded the majority of its contents into the locker. Pidge followed suit, then leaned on the locker next to Keith.

"So, you finally tell Lance your true feelings?" Pidge asked nonchalantly.

"Shh!" Keith replied, turning red. "Someone could hear you!"

"Yes, because I am sure everyone in this hallway is eavesdropping on our conversation."

Keith glanced at each passerby, eyeing them for any suspicious activity. "You never know who is listening," he whispered.

"Stop being a paranoid little shit and answer my question."

"Of course I didn't, Pidge. I don't want to get rejected, or ruin our friendship. I'll just suffer silently until college."

"Come on, man, out of everyone in this damn school, you've got the best chance. He's totally into you!"

"But he's straight! There's a zero percent chance of him liking me. There is no way I am telling Lance-"

Out of nowhere, a boy swooped in. He was taller than Keith, but not by much. His skin seemed to radiate the sun, and brown locks fell over his head. He was wearing a long-sleeved grey shirt with blue sleeves, and a hand-me-down jacket. 

"Tell me what?" The boy asked, a grin playing across his face as he did.

Keith shut the locker quickly. "I-uh, well um."

"Not tell you the answers to the Latin quiz you missed last week cause you were sick. It's only fair you have to suffer like the rest of us on it," Pidge said, saving Keith as she did. 

The boy groaned. "Fuck, I didn't study for that. Can you at least help me a little bit?" He pleaded.

"Our lips are sealed, Lance," Pidge replied, pretending to lock her mouth and throw away the key.

Lance sighed. "Fine. I'll just fail it like you guys did."

Pidge fished out a paper from her bag, proudly displaying a large 56/56 on the paper. "Read it and weep."

Laugh chuckled. "Jokes on you, now I've seen the quiz."

"Except, you forget that Ms. Cavallaro changes her quizzes slightly when you have to make them up."

Lance snapped his finger. "Bested me again! What did I expect from the smartest person in school though?"

Keith had locked the locker while Pidge and Lance were talking about the quiz, listening intently to their conversation. He hung onto Lance's every word like it was his lifeline, not random ramblings about a Latin quiz. While Lance continued his rambling, Pidge mouthed the worlds "You're welcome" to Keith. Keith nodded and smiled.

The first bell rang, signaling they had five minutes to get to class. Pidge scooped up her textbook for biology class off the floor and gestured to the science and math hallway. "Shall we go?"

"I guess we don't really have a choice," Lance sighed. 

They all began to clear out of the main hallway, as all the other students did, and strolled to their first period class. They were lucky enough to all share biology together first thing in the morning, as well with their other friend Hunk. It was the only class period all of them shared together (with the expectation of lunch), and it was the perfect way to start off the day. 

It didn't take them long to get to the classroom and claim the back table as their own. Pidge placed her bag on the seat next to her to ensure it was saved for Hunk, who appeared to be running late that day, which although strange, was not something to worry about. They continued their conversation.

"So, as I was saying," Lance said, "I totally think Prince Lotion uses the same shampoo as I do! His hair smells exactly the same as mine-"

Pidge smirked. "Do you smell it regularly?"

"Don't interrupt. It's a pretty hard smell to miss. I could smell it all the way from my desk in English class. Anyway, but like that's just really frustrating, you know? I mean, that guy honestly can't be original in anyway, can he?"

Before Keith or Pidge could contribute to the conversation further, a boy burst into the room, heaving heavily as if he had just been running. He wore an orange bandanna on his head, tied neatly at the top. He made a beeline to the back of the room to their table. Pidge moved her stuff and he plopped down next to her.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Pidge teased.

"So, what are we talking about?" The boy asked, ignoring Pidge. 

"Prince Lotion," Lance answered, "and his inability to not rip me off."

"Ugh, that guy," the boy replied.

"I know, right? Did I tell you that I think he's using the same shampoo as me?"

"I think you told me that three days ago."

"Sorry, Hunk, I can't keep track of every conversation."

The second bell rung. Class had begun.

Their teacher, Dr. Franklin, looked up from her computer and to the class. The projector already displayed the power point for today, or "Unit 2-1: The Molecules of Life".

Dr. Franklin began teaching, but the four were still murmuring in the back of the classroom, keeping their heads low, as if in a secret meeting. Their topic had quickly changed from "Prince Lotion" to that of a more serious one.

"Two more went missing," Pidge whispered. "That's eleven in the past month alone."

"Oh god, not your conspiracy theories again," Lance groaned.

"Shh," Keith said in response to Lance. "Pidge, who were they?"

"Not sure. Both were minors, meaning the names couldn't be released. With some digging though, I think we can figure out who."

"What time did they disappear?"

"Did you not read the article Keith? It said they went for a walk at about seven pm and never came back."

Keith scratched his chin, thinking. "These ones must be connected to the others. They disappeared at a similar time."

"No shit, Sherlock. They're all connected," Pidge replied. 

Hunk and Lance were listening in on the conversation, but not fully responding. The conspiracies and missing persons cases were Keith and Pidge's specialties, and they both new that. Hunk doodled small cups of coffee and other breakfast food in his notebook while he listened, and Lance tapped his pencil against his blank notes. 

"Fuck you, Watson. You got any leads yet?" Keith asked.

"Not anything substantial. I think we need to try to figure out how all of these cases are connected. Then maybe something will click."

"What do you think we've been doing the past five months? Goofing off?"

"I know, I know, it's just that-"

"Ms. Holt!" Dr. Franklin interrupted, looking with disdain at Pidge, her nose turned upwards. "Since you clearly were not paying attention, do you mind answering the question?"

Without skipping a beat, Pidge replied, "dehydration synthesis."

Dr. Franklin blinked and stood at the front of the room, silent. It took her a few seconds to regain her look of contempt before she spoke again. "That-that is correct. Can anyone tell me why it is called dehydration synthesis?"

"Not paying attention my ass," Pidge mumbled, rolling her eyes and frowning as she did. 

"Ms. Holt, would you care to share what you said to the rest of the class?" Dr. Franklin said, crossing her arms.

"Nothing, Dr. Franklin."

Dr. Franklin nodded her head and continued her lecture about the wondrous molecules of life, seeming content that Pidge had backed down in the end instead of standing up to her like she normally did.

"Look, we'll talk about it later. It's too risky here with Dr. Franklin watching us. Let's pay attention and take some notes so you guys can pass the test," Pidge whispered.

"But I get As on all the exams," Hunk replied, his lips in a thin line.

"Wasn't talking about you, buddy. I was talking about emo and flirt over here."

"Hey!" They both whispered in unison.

Pidge let a smile play on her lips, but did not respond to their protests. Keith sighed and turned his attention to the front of the room, watching as Dr. Franklin droned on about condensation reactions. Pidge was furiously jotting down information, already filling half of a page with words and diagrams. Hunk too was talking notes, and he was nearly down the bottom of the page, his large handwriting filling most of the page. Lance and Keith on the other had both had two words written down: dehydration synthesis. 

Pidge glanced to their papers, and seeing few notes on them, raised her eyebrows at them. Keith shrugged, and Pidge rolled her eyes in response, turning her head back to the presentation. After what felt like hours, the bell finally rang. People clambered out of the room as Dr. Franklin yelled out the homework. Keith didn't hear it, but he was sure Pidge would tell him later. 

They clustered around the outside of the door, blocking a small section in the hallway.

"Well, see ya guys at lunch, I guess," Pidge said. "We'll talk more ab-" She was cut off when someone ran into her, nearly knocking her over. She stumbled, but quickly regained her footing and her tongue. "Hey! Watch it! We're trying to have a conversation here!"

The perpetrator just snorted and walked off, leaving Pidge with her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the ground. When it was evident he wasn't going to come back to apologize, Pidge sighed. "I should probably get going. Don't want to be late to class and all. You guys should probably do the same."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. See you guys later!" Lance said, walking away.

"Good luck on your grammar test today," Hunk said to Pidge.

"Thanks. I'm totally going to own it!" Pidge replied.

Hunk smiled. "That's the spirit. Go get 'em, Pidge."

Pidge strolled off, taking her time to get to English class. She pulled out her phone while she was moving, the screen illuminating her face and reflecting on her glasses. She nearly ran into a couple of people, but was quick to maneuver around them. She did run into one person, but she continued walking.

Keith glanced to Hunk, and Hunk shrugged. "Ready?"

Keith nodded. They began their perilous journey through the halls to their drawing class. It wasn't a long trip, and soon enough they had found their seats. The bell rang once more, and class had begun. Class today was easy, with them learning about different components of shading and techniques. Before they knew it, class was over.

Hunk and Keith grabbed their things and headed for the door. Once there, Hunk patted Keith on the back. "See ya around, buddy."

Keith's final class before lunch was the most dreaded class in the entire school-physical education, or the work of the devil. He took his sweet time getting there, knowing that once he walked through the doors of the gymnasium, there would be no going back for another fifty minutes. Keith pushed the doors open, and was met with a wave of air conditioning and the stench of the teenagers from the previous class. He nearly gagged on the odor of sweat, blood, and tears, but managed to refrain from vomiting his eggs from the morning. He walked by a group of students loitering around the water fountain, trying to enjoy their last few minutes of freedom. When they saw him, they began to giggle. He tried to ignore them and decided to go change out for class.

The locker room was a rowdy place, full of yelling boys running around the lockers in every direction. In the corner, the seniors all sat, glancing out from their conversations every once in a while at the chaos. Few seniors had to take P.E, so the ones that did tended to stick together. The juniors jostled each other around, trying to bring up the morale of the group. The freshmen were evenly divided into two groups-the riotous ones and the quiet ones. The riotous ones thought they owned the place, strutting around with their noses turned upwards, slapping each other with towels as they did. The quiet ones just silently changed and drifted out of the room, like a ghost wandering away. 

The bell chimed. They now had two minutes before roll call started, and Coach Sendak was a strict about getting to class on time. Keith quickly grabbed his gym uniform, a grey shirt with the words, "Altea Falls Lions" circling around a black lion roaring, and black shorts, from his locker. He threw them on and took the hair tie from around his wrist and pulled his hair back. He threw his street clothes back into his locker and closed the lock. He sprinted to where the others had lined up in alphabetical order and took his spot.

He looked up the line to see three spots from him stood Pidge, staring at him intently. She waved and him and mouthed something that looked like, "you won't beehive what harpy to hay," but was probably closer along the lines of, "you won't believe what happened today." Keith nodded in response and gave a thumbs up to show that he at least somewhat comprehended what she had mouthed. She turned her head so Sendak wouldn't yell at her for not paying attention and order her to do forty push-ups (he loved forcing poor unsuspecting souls into exercise).

"Katie Holt!" Sendak called out, his eyes settling on Pidge.

"It's Pidge," she replied, not breaking eye contact with him.

He checked her name off, but decided to ignore her comment. He finished up role call and stood in front of the group, his hands on his hips. He was a larger man, being the coach for the football team and all, and he towered over most of the group. His hair was turning grey at the roots, but he did not seem to care or notice.

"You guys got ten laps around the gym! When you're done, come to the whiteboard."

Everyone groaned, but started their laps. As soon as Sendak went into his office, everyone slowed to a walk. 

"So what happened today?" Keith asked Pidge, who was trotting next to him. 

She shoved her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Okay so I was sitting in English class today after I had turned in my quiz. Which, by the way, was a piece of cake. Sentence diagramming ain't got nothing on me! Anyway, I was getting ahead on the bio reading while I'm waiting for class to be over, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Now, may I remind you, I sit right next to the window. So I looked out the window, and-shit. Sendak is back. Start jogging."

They picked up their pace and began to run around the gym. The rest of the students, also seeing Sendak, followed suit. Sendak nodded in approval and went back to his office. Everyone stopped jogging.

"So, continue," Keith said.

"Right. So I looked out the window, and I swear to God my blood ran cold. There was a woman standing outside the window looking at me, with cold, dead eyes. It was almost as if she was staring directly into my soul. The woman was hunched over and withered like the old tree by my house with the tire swing on it, and she was draped in a green cloak covering her hair. She stood there with her gaze upon me, swaying slightly. We stared at each other for sometime, and I couldn't tear my eyes from her. It was almost like she was rooting me in place simply with her gaze. I sat there transfixed by her, for what felt like hours, or days even. Finally, she opened her mouth. From her mouth came the most blood curdling shriek I have ever heard in my life. While she was screeching, her hood fell back and I saw she had bright red hair. Not normal red hair--it clearly had to have been dyed to get to that color. That startled everyone, myself included, so much so I was no longer in my trance, and everyone rushed to the window. In the commotion, I looked away for a brief moment. When I looked back, she's gone."

Keith had turned paler and paler as the story had continued, and by the end of it, all the blood had drained from him. He had stopped walking some time ago, trying to comprehend what Pidge had told him. "The hell?" He asked, still paralyzed by the thought of who, or what, would do that.

"I know, right? There's no way this could have been something human that did this. If you heard the shriek, you'd know. We should discuss it at Cryptid Club today."

"I agree. Something's up here. Something," Keith paused, thinking what this could even be classified as, "strange."

Before they could discuss Pidge's encounter further, they heard a whistle coming from the whiteboard. They glanced over to see Sendak with his arms crossed and whistle in mouth, his eyes narrowed. They had become so engrossed in Pidge's story that they hadn't noticed that everyone else had gathered around the whiteboard.

"Kogane! Holt! Get over here!"

They jogged over to the others, trying to avoid the gaze of their judging peers.

"Next time, run the ten laps so you can finish with everyone else," Sendak said. The students oohed. 

"Yes, because everyone was running, you ignorant buffoon" Pidge said under her breath, low enough so only Keith could hear. They joined the others on the hardwood floor before the board.

"Name of the game today is kickball. I hope to gosh you guys know how to play this game." He disappeared into his office for a couple of minutes and came back holding a ball. "Go line up on the wall so I can split you into teams."

When the teams had been finalized, Keith and Pidge had managed to get on the same team. Rather than playing kickball, however, they played a different game called "do no work without getting caught". The rules were fairly self explanatory: do the least you can throughout the duration of gym class without getting caught. They had managed to do it (and succeed at it) almost every day of P.E. they've had, with the exception of one day two weeks ago when Sendak was absent and they had a substitute.

When Sendak finally told them to change out, Pidge and Keith high-fived. So, they had won again. Keith quickly changed out in the locker room and emerged, where Pidge was waiting for him. Wordlessly, as if on autopilot, they pushed open the doors into the main hallway and traveled to their locker. They both pulled out what they needed for their afternoon classes, along with their lunches.

It wasn't a long walk to the school yard where they ate lunch, so they got their fairly easily. Lance and Hunk were already sitting at a picnic table, as it was not a far from their previous class, English. Lance was throwing his head back in laughter at something Hunk had said when they approached the table. Lance scooted over to giver Keith a place to sit. 

"Thanks," Keith said.

"No problem, buddy."

Pidge sat next to Hunk, pulling out her peanut butter sandwich and taking a large bite from it. "The weirdest thing happened to me in English class today," she announced.

"What was that?" Hunk asked, picking up a fry to inspect it as he did.

Pidge explained what happened to Hunk and Lance, leaving out no details from when she told Keith. When she finished, both Lance and Hunk were wearing skeptical looks.

"Wait, wait, wait," Lance said, one of his eyebrows raised. "If this actually happened, how come none of us heard the shriek?"

"Yeah, gotta agree with Lance there. Why didn't we hear the screech?"

PIdge tapped her chin for a moment before speaking. "All three of you guys were on the opposite side of the school. Lance, you were in choir, right? You guys were probably singing and the shriek just blended right in."

"Hey!"

"Kidding, kidding. You guys sing well. You were probably just singing too loudly to hear it."

Lance crossed his arms. "That explains why I didn't hear it, but what about Keith and Hunk? They were in drawing class. There was no way they were singing."

"But, Hunk and I were probably in the back room when the screech happened," Keith explained. "We had to get our drawings from it, after all. That room is practically sound proof, so it would make sense if we couldn't hear a shriek on the other side of the building."

Lance slouched, defeated. "Fine. Even if there are explanations as to why we didn't hear the sound, it still doesn't explain how she just disappeared into thin air."

"Like I said, my vote is paranormal," Pidge said.

"Bullshit on that," Lance replied. "No way in hell does anything like that exists. Come on Pidge, I thought you were the smart one here."

"Just because it can't be explained doesn't mean it can't exist. Gravity existed way before Newton figured it out, so why can't this exist?"

"Yes, because a woman in a cloak shrieking is the same concept as gravity," Hunk said, joining in further. "You just can't make that comparison."

"I can, and I will," Pidge said.

"Whoa, hold on," Lance interrupted. 

"What?" Pidge asked, trying to follow Lance's gaze. 

"Did Nyma get hotter or is that just me?"

Keith groaned and put his head in his hands, rubbing his face as he did. 

"Lance, you're really asking the wrong group. Keith over here has never had a straight though in his life, and I on the other hand have not had straight, or gay thought, for that matter, in my life."

Lance turned to Hunk. "Hunk? Your opinion?"

Hunk groaned. "You know how I feel about that girl. She's been a snake since first grade. Don't trust her."

Lance sighed, glancing to Keith with his head still rest in his palms. "Fine, I can catch a hint. I'll stop talking about her."

"Thank you," Keith said, grateful the discussion had moved away from Nyma.

"You guys busy Thursday after school?" Lance asked, trying to make sure the conversation did not wander into the paranormal. When he asked, he was looking at Keith, making Keith turn slightly pink. 

"I'm free!" Keith replied quickly, perking up immediately. He silently chided himself after saying that for being a bit too eager. 

"Free as a bird," Hunk said. 

"I've got no plans," Pidge said, continuing to munch on her sandwich. "Whatcha got planned for us, Lance?"

"Well, I've got a swim meet after school and, uh, it would love it if you guys could come support the team. I'll have a lot of down time in between events so we can chill or something. It's a home meet so it's just on campus."

"I'll be there," Hunk replied, eating a fry.

"Sounds good to me," Pidge said. "I'm sure Keith would love to come as well, wouldn't ya?"

"Of-of course," Keith stammered out, trying to keep a straight face. "Love to go."

Lance clapped his hands together. "Then it's settled! Just walk with me after school to the pool. Then we can go get pasta or something afterwards."

They continued their lunch with random conversations, none delving into what happened during second period. They all seemed to forget about it, or simply had nothing more to add to that particular conversation. All too soon, their free time was cut short but the shrill F# (Lance cited last year while he was tuning his guitar that the bell registered as an F#. No one knew how true that was, but no one cared enough to fact check him) that rung through the yard. 

Pidge gathered her things and stood up. "I'm off to government. See you nerds later!"

* * *

The rest of the day was boring for Keith, with no strange ladies standing outside the window of any of his classrooms (or at least at the classrooms with windows). He wasn't sure what he expected though, when this was her first ever appearance.

But the school day did not matter right now. He was in the best place in the world, Classroom 411, or the home of the Cryptid Club. The club had most of its members there already (it was a small club), along with the teacher sponsor, Dr. Ryner. Dr. Ryner taught all of biology 2, and the few lucky ones that get her for biology 1. Keith, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were not among those lucky ones. She also taught a few electives, but those were few and fair between.

The last member filed in, and a boy moved to the front of the room behind a podium. He looked almost exactly like Pidge, even sporting similar glasses and haircut. "It appears everyone is here, so let's get started." He glanced down to his watch. "We have some time for open floor. Anyone wish to speak?"

Pidge shot her hand up. "Me, sir, me!"

The boy sighed. "Yes, Pidge?"

"I'd like to speak about a strange encounter I had today."

The boy took a second to ponder things before saying, "The floor is yours."

Pidge hopped up from her seat and marched up to the front of the room. "Thank you, Matt. Now, all of us here have been in this club for sometime. While I may have just started this school this year, I know I've been coming here since my brother Matt started this club. Now, we've had some good times in this room, and some good stories, but have we ever found anything? The answer to that is no. Despite all of our research, all of our wanderings, we have been unable to find anything. Until now. You see, today I had quite a strange encounter with what could potentially be a paranormal being." Pidge proceeded to tell the story of the woman. When done, she continued. "I say we investigate her! She's the closest we've gotten to anything. What do you say?"

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. Pidge grinned as she jumped down from the podium and rushed back to her seat next to Keith.

"That was an interesting story, Pidge. Everyone seems to be in favor to investigate it further, correct?" Matt asked.

No one protested.

"Good. Let's investigate, shall we?"

* * *

"I can't believe our investigation turned up nothing," Pidge said, kicking a rock into the gutter as she did. Her and Keith were walking on the sidewalk, sharing a bag of licorice between the two of them. The sun was starting to dip below the mountains, meaning that curfew was going to begin soon. Pidge and Keith did nothing to pick up their pace, however, contentedly deciding to continue walking at their leisurely pace. 

"We can look more into tomorrow. If we can figure out who, or what, that woman was, it could seriously help."

"I feel like we've looked everywhere, though. Despite that, nothing on a shrieking woman with bright red hair and a green cloak."

"Pidge, if I know you, which I do, you'll be able to figure it out. You're the smartest person around. You're gonna crack it."

Pidge stuck her hand into the bag of licorice Keith was carrying and grabbed a handful. She tore a large bite of one, deep in thought, mumbling to herself, "green cloak, red hair, shrieking. Green cloak, red hair, shrieking."

Keith put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, okay? We'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I won't."

They reached a street corner and stopped. 

"Well, see you tomorrow!" Pidge said, taking half of the remaining licorice and walking away. 

Keith walked in the opposite direction to his house. He continued as he traveled, thinking about what Pidge described today. Even if he had told Pidge to not worry about it, he was going to. He was going to get to the bottom of this woman in green.

* * *

Five hours later, and still nothing on the woman in green. Keith had gone to every website imaginable, sifted through stories upon stories, and delved into lore he never knew existed, yet he did not find one thing to help them. He clicked back to his Cryptid Forum post about it, hoping someone had answered, but it was dead. 

Keith sighed and closed his laptop. It was already almost midnight and he had not started his homework yet. He opened his Geometry Textbook to the section on triangles.

_Prove Side AB  is congruent to Side BC given Figure 3._

Keith began to write down his answer.

_Given that: Angle A is congruent to Angle C_

His phone vibrated. He glanced to the glowing screen. The screen let out little light, given that his phone background was mostly black. A white strip stretched across the red eyes of Mothman, reading:  _(1) New Message from Lance._

Keith dropped his pencil and hastily picked up his phone, unlocking it. He read the message.

**Lance:** Hey buddy want to hang out this Saturday? Maybe go swimming in the lake or something?

Keith was quick to respond.

**Keith:** Just us?

**Lance:** We can invite Pidge and Hunk if you want

**Keith:** No it's cool. Saturday sounds great

**Lance:** Cool. See ya then

Keith shut off his phone and smiled. He grabbed his pencil and begun to work once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise this is a slow burn XD Just wait and see


	2. The Prince of Theater

Swim practice for Lance that day was fairly easy, with the coaches actually being somewhat nice with the sets. Despite this, when Lance returned home, he was still exhausted. He ate a quick dinner and hopped in the shower soon afterwards, eager to get the smell of chlorine out of his hair. After his shower, he wrapped his towel around his waist and brushed his teeth. He then changed into his pajamas and dried off his hair. He'd put on his face mask later when he went to bed. 

He knew he had homework to work on, but, like a true student, decided to do everything but his homework. He opened up his laptop while he lay on his bed. He scrolled through his emails and other social media, before finally settling on his video chat program. He opened it.

 _Welcome Back, Lance McClain._ His screen displayed in white letters on an ocean background. The screen shifted to the home screen, displaying what friends were online. The only name with a green dot next to it was Hunk Garrett. Lance clicked the call button next to Hunk's name. It only rang twice before Hunk's face appeared on the screen.

"Heyo, Lance."

"Hunk, I'm a complete idiot."

"Uh, what?"

Lance rubbed his eyes with his hands and groaned. "I just acted like such a dumbass today. I mean, 'did Nyma get hotter or is that just me'? Seriously?"

"Oh, that thing. Yeah, that was a bit idiotic-"

"Thanks," Lance deadpanned.

"But it's fine. We all do stuff like that at some point."

Hunk glanced down, seemingly working on some homework. He wrote something down before looking back up at Lance again. He would do this intermittently whenever they talked like this. 

"Like, she is hot, I can admit that, but why did I say it out loud? Why?"

"Probably cause you were already nervous, then we started talking about paranormal stuff and you wanted to change the subject. It's not a big deal."

"But it is, Hunk! Keith probably hates me now. Or he probably thinks I'm an asshole."

Hunk looked up from his work. "He doesn't, trust me."

Lance ran his hands through his still damp hair. "You can't know that for sure! What if he does?"

Hunk sighed. "Buddy, you're going to have to just trust me."

Lance groaned. "Ugh."

Hunk chuckled. "Sorry, buddy."

Lance opened another tab to Keith's Instagram page to flip through his photos. There were many new ones since Lance last looked, and he was going to get through each and every one.

"I recognize that expression," Hunk said. "Are you looking at his Instagram again?"

"Maybe I am. What about it?"

Hunk tapped his cheek with his pencil. "Nothing much. Maybe just ask him out instead of creepily stalking him through all of his photos? It's more straight forward and less weird."

Lance's eyes went wide. "And get completely rejected by him? No way! Besides, as far as he and everyone else knows, I'm as straight as an arrow. I can't risk being outed."

"That makes sense. No pressure to come out, but Pidge and Keith would probably be the most supportive people ever about it if that's what you're worried about. I mean, Keith is gay and Pidge is ace after all."

"No, no, it's not that necessarily. I know they'll be understanding and cool about it, it's just, I don't know, I guess I just don't want to be treated differently. I don't want them to see me as a different person."

"But you aren't a different person. You're still the same person they've known for years and bonded with."

"I, I just don't know how to describe it."

Hunk looked at him with eyes so warm they could be chocolate-chip cookies coming out of the oven. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to come out if you don't want to. Just know that I'm sure they'll be super encouraging and nice about it."

"Can we change the topic, please?"

"Sure thing. So, uh, how was practice?"

"Boring. Coaches were at least nice though."

"That's good," Hunk replied.

Lance continued his scrolling. Lance settled on a picture of Keith out in the woods with a camera over his neck. He was looking at something in the trees, but the photograph didn't show exactly what he was searching for. He was wearing his normal outfit of a t-shirt and a flannel tied around his waste, with a pair of converse to top it all off. His hair was pulled back. A light was flashing behind his eyes: a light of laughter, mischief, and happiness. The caption read, "Hunting for the Altean Treeclimber with @pigeons_and_aliens", with a small emoji of a tree next to it. There were some comments on the side as well, but Lance did not read them. 

"How the fuck is he so cute?" Lance asked Hunk, still transfixed by the photo.

"I thought you said you wanted to change the subject."

"Whatever. But honesty, he's looking for something called a "Treeclimber", which is such a creative name, might I add, and he manages to look perfect! He's in the middle of the woods, for Christ's sake! How is this possible?"

Hunk shrugged. "Who knows, man. Keith's a mystery, even after seven years of hanging out with him."

"Fuck it, man, fuck it. I'm going to ask him to hang out on Saturday."

"Yay! Wait, like platonically or as a date?"

"I guess platonic. I'm not sure if I'm ready to actually ask him out yet."

"Good call."

"Wait, what do I say?"

"I don't know man, it's up to you. It's gotta be you sending the texts, not me."

Lance unlocked his phone and went to his messages. He went to Keith's name and typed out his message.

 **Lance:** Hey buddy want to hang out this Saturday? Maybe go swimming in the lake or something?

"What'd you say?" Hunk asked.

Lance shakily gripped the phone. "I just said 'hey buddy'. What the actual fuck was I thinking?"

"Lance, calm down. It's ok. That sounds casual. It's fine."

Lance saw the three little dots of Keith responding. "Wait, he's responding!"

 **Keith:** Just us?

Lance's face dropped. "Fuck. He asked if it was just us. He doesn't want this man! This was a mistake."

"He's probably just isn't sure about what exactly you meant about it. It's okay, just keep on going."

 **Lance:** We can invite Pidge and Hunk if you want

 **Keith:** No it's cool. Saturday sounds great

"Yes!" Lance screamed. "Yes! It's just going to be us! Hell to the yes!"

"Yeah! Great job, Lance!" Hunk congratulated enthusiastically. 

"Wait, let me text a response."

 **Lance:** Cool. See ya then

Lance set his phone down and looked up to Hunk. They both were beaming ear to ear. "I did it. Holy shit, I did it."

* * *

"You really should have started that last night."

Hunk and Lance were sitting across from each other at the lunch table, waiting for Keith and Pidge to arrive from gym class. Lance was hunched over a sheet of paper, hastily scribbling down answers in a sloppy fashion, such that his handwriting was barely legible. He had managed to fill out a quarter of the worksheet over the course of his morning classes, not fully realizing how long the worksheet really was until third period. He had little time before it was due, and he still had to finish most of it. 

Lance ignored Hunk's statement, trying to focus on his work. "What's the Manifest Destiny?"

Hunk sighed. "Did you not even do the reading?"

Lance looked up from his work, cocking an eyebrow. "I want you to look at who you're asking, and think about that question again."

"Fair enough."

"Now, what's the Manifest Destiny?"

"Belief in the 19th century held by most Americans. It was a belief that Americans were supposed to spread over North America."

Lance jotted that down. "Thanks."

"Don't write down those exact words!"

Lance waved it off. "It's fine, don't worry."

Hunk stopped talking, knowing it was futile to try to convince Lance to change the phrasing. Lance was so concentrated on his work he did not notice Keith or Pidge sit down at the table.

"What homework didn't you do this time, Lance?" Pidge asked.

"Social studies," Lance replied, not looking up. His pencil moved fluidly across the page, like flowing water from a stream. His eyebrows were pulled together in concentration.

"Just call it American history like a normal person," Keith said while taking a bite of his sandwich. Keith's hair was still pulled up from gym class, not caring enough to take it down. His eyes darted down to Lance's paper, reading what he had written. "Monroe Doctrine was 1823, not 1833."

"What?" Lance looked to the question Keith was referring to. Finding it, Lance erased the wrong answer and replaced it with the correct answer. His eyes narrowed. "Wait, are you trying to trick me?"

Hunk swallowed his food. "No, Keith's right. It is 1823."

Keith faked a gasp. "I am honestly so offended that you thought I would trick you like that."

Lance shoved Keith. "Oh, like you're so above it."

"When have I ever tricked you?"

"What about that time during Monopoly when you told me there was a dog walking by so I'd look, then took all of my hundreds?"

"I gave them back."

"What about when we were playing Mariokart and you told me that we should play Rainbow Road because it was the easiest?"

Keith laughed. "Okay, fair enough. That was worth it though. Your expression was priceless."

"Shut up," Lance replied, turning slightly red. 

"Better hurry up there, Lance," Pidge interrupted. "You don't have much time left to finish that."

"Shit," Lance cursed, returning back to his work. The questions were becoming lengthy now, asking him to write full paragraphs to describe, analyze, or compare and contrast different historical events taking place in the early 19th century. Questions soon started to blur together, all seeming to just do the same thing over and over again until his hands cramped up from exhaustion. He tuned out Keith, Hunk, and Pidge's conversation best he could, but he still caught a few snippets. 

"So I was researching the woman last night-" Pidge started.

"I thought I told you not to worry about it," Keith cut her off.

"Oh, come on, like you didn't do some research as well last night. I saw your post on the Cryptid Forum. Besides, I can do what I want. You're not my dad."

"You do make a good point. Continue."

"So, it was pretty hard to narrow it down, but I think she's from somewhere from Northern Europe. Scotland maybe."

"Good work. That should help us somewhat."

"That's what I thought, but still, it's nearly impossible to find anything about it."

Lance decided to try to stop listening to the conversation. He was nearly done with the worksheet, and he wanted to finish it by the end of lunch, so he could not get sidetracked by their discussion.

It was nearing the end of lunch when Lance finished up the final question. He contently dropped his pencil on the page and announced, "done!"

"You sure you got everything right?" Hunk asked. 

"Eh, if I get a B on it, I'm happy."

"What about a C?"

"I'll take a C, but I won't be happy about it."

Hunk nodded in approval. The bell chimed, and lunch ended.

* * *

Lance could not wait until theater ended. 

He normally loved, theater, yes, but ever since Ms. Luctuosa uttered the words, "We'll be working in partners today", his life became a living hell. Of course, he, Lance McClain, had to be paired with the worst possible person ever: Lotor. 

Lance gripped the sheet they were supposed to be memorizing, creating folds along the paper because of how tightly he was clutching it. He stared at Lotor with eyes as cold as ice, and with a look at could have killed. Lotor didn't seem to be fazed by this, however, instead reading each of his lines with a flourish. His bleached, white hair was pulled back into a bun, tugging back the skin from his forehead. Lance was so intently trying to have Lotor combust from his own thoughts that he did not notice it was his line.

"Hey, pay attention!" Lotor snapped at Lance. 

"What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?" Lance said through gritted teeth, bowing as he did. Thank God the lines they had to say to each other were all insults and not words of love, or Lance would have left the classroom long ago.

"Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signor Benedick?" Lotor replied. "Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence."

"Then is courtesy a turncoat," Lance paused, trying to remember the line. He knew he had the sheet in front of him, but if he looked down, Lotor would chide him. He could not let Lotor have the satisfaction of that. "Uh."

"Forgetting your line, are you?" Lotor asked, a smile playing on his lips. "You can look down if you need to. It's okay for novices like yourself to do that."

Lance badly wanted to punch Lotor in his teeth. Lotor was far newer to the theater game than Lance was, but he acted like he owned it anyway. 

Lance exhaled. "No, I was just thinking."

"Surprising, coming from you, but please, do continue Signor Benedick."

Lance made a fist with his right hand. "But it is certain I am loved by-"

"It's of."

"Excuse me?"

"It's loved of, not by," Lotor explained. "Which, I understand may be difficult to comprehend for someone with an IQ level like yourself, but please do try."

Lance took in a deep breath, trying to slow down the shaking of his hands. "But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted. And I would I could find in my he-"

Lotor interrupted, "yes, very good. Now, you're acting is a bit off here. When I say a bit, I mean way off. You're acting angry, but-"

"What do you want?" Lance questioned him, his eyes filled with flames. 

Lotor smiled innocently at him. "I'm just helping a friend with his acting abilities."

"I am not your friend, nor will I ever be," Lance replied coldly. 

"I'm aware of that. Of course I would never want to be friends with you, the filthy kid who can't tell the difference between a rock and a turtle, the kid who wears the same ugly jacket every day, the kid that can't even do anything right."

Lance crumpled up the sheet into a ball. "Listen here," Lance said, venom dripping from his voice. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Why don't you take that little mouth of yours and run it where someone actually wants to hear it."

"How rude of you to say that."

"I could say the same for you."

"I wasn't being rude, just simply stating the truth. What I said, despite what you want to think, is accurate information. You wouldn't want me to lie, now would you?"

"You piece of shit-"

"Ah, ah, ah! Let's not be vulgar here. We're both civilized people here, aren't we?"

Lance squeezed the paper ball in his hand, tempted to lob it at Lotor's head. He concentrated on his breathing, counting each breath and watching his shoulders rise and fall in his peripheral vision. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the beach, the calming waves crashing on the sand, the sound of seagulls squawking, children's laughter. The image was broken all too soon, when his eyes snapped open to Lotor's face. He knew Lotor was trying to bait him, get him to throw a punch, tackle him to the ground, anything. Despite knowing this, the urge was still present within Lance's gut. 

"And I would I could find in my heart, that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none," Lance said, his eyes as hard as steel. 

"Back to the Shakespeare, I see. If we're going to play that way, I suppose it is my line." Lotor cleared his throat. "A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me."

A piercing clap shot through the theater. Lance looked behind him to see Ms. Luctuosa was the one who issued the clap, signalling class was about to end and they needed to circle around her. Lance quickly ditched Lotor to run up to her.

She clapped her hands together once more, the bangles on her wrist clanking together. "Great job today, everyone! Be sure to remember what you did today! We'll discuss it tomorrow." She glanced to the clock. "Are you guys okay being let out a couple of minutes early?"

Eager nods answered her question. "Very well. You guys can go now."

Lance bolted out of the room quicker than a flash of lightning and sprinted through the halls. In the quiet minutes when the halls were empty, Lance could get away with his running. He felt free from the stresses, the struggles, and more importantly, Lotor. 

He stopped before a wooden door and pulled out his phone to check the time. He still had a minute before the bell rang. He exhaled and he leaned up against to the wall next to the door, counting down the seconds until the bell would chime. 

When it finally did, people poured out of the room. His eyes scanned the faces exiting the class room, searching for one in particular. His eyes finally settled on the person he was looking for. 

"Keith!" He shouted.

Keith jumped when he heard Lance, nearly dropping his textbook onto the ground. He regained his grip on the Geometry textbook and shifted his eyes through the faces. When he finally did see Lance, he trotted over.

"You got here pretty quick," Keith said. "Also, why are you panting? I thought you had Theater class before this."

Lance took in a breath. "Sprinted over here. Anyway, so I wanted to catch you really quick before your next class."

Keith leaned next to Lance on the wall. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. So, uh, Saturday."

Keith tilted his head. "What about it?"

"So, I was wondering if we could like, uh, hike out to the lake or something, then you can have dinner at my place?"

Keith nodded his head. "Sounds good."

"Okay, uh, cool. See you seventh period?"

"See you seventh."

Keith walked away, presumably going to his next class. Lance let a goofy grin stretch across his face as he walked away, not caring who saw him. He strolled into the classroom Keith had just exited and sat down in his seat.

Class started, but his mind was not there. He drifted off in thought, his mind wandering to strange places rather that the topic of triangles. His thoughts were random, inconsistent, and erratic. His mind jumped from Lotor, to dinner, to Keith, to his bisexuality, to everything. He recalled memories, fantasies, and his worst fears, all in one sitting.

"Mr. McClain!" 

The voice jolted him out of his thinking. He turned his attention to the front of the room, only to see a stern woman glaring at him with her yardstick in hand, crossing her arms. He gulped.

"Yes, Ms. Haggar?"

"Will you please answer the problem?" The woman asked, her eyes boring into his very soul. He could feel her examining his innards, poking through his blood vessels and nerves. He shuddered.

"Uh, what was it?"

Giggles rippled through the class.

"Question 6 from the homework last night, Mr. McClain. Would you please come up to the board and show your proof?"

"Fuck," Lance whispered to himself. He had totally forgotten there was geometry homework. The prying eyes of his peers stared at him, looking at him expectantly as began to shake. He stood up slowly and shuffled up to the front of the room, sweat beading on his forehead and dripping into his eyebrows. He picked up a dry-erase maker and uncapped it. He fumbled with the cap and it fell to the ground, and people tittered. He scooped it up off the ground and attached it to the back of the marker.

"Mr. McClain," Ms. Haggar said. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I, uh, don't think so."

"Your paper, Mr. McClain. You need your work, do you not?"

"I, uh don't need it."

Ms. Haggar tapped her hand with the yard stick. "Don't need it? Wouldn't you like to have the answer up with you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Patton once said, 'take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash'. Now, are you taking a calculated risk or are you being rash?"

Lance paused, thinking. Time was ticking by. "Uh-"

"That's enough, Mr. McClain, you've embarrassed yourself enough today. Next time just do the homework."

Lance placed the marker on the metal rod extending under the board and hung his head low, blood rushing to his cheeks. The piercing gaze of his peers burned into his skull as he shambled back to his desk, burrowing inside his brain and residing there. It was almost as if he could read their minds from their gaze.

_God, what an idiot._

_Haha Lance really did it this time._

_Wonder why he even has any friends._

Lance tried to ignore the intrusive thoughts as he plopped down at his seat. Class went on normally, as if nothing had happened. For the rest of class, he sat petrified in his seat, too scared to even move a muscle. He could hear everything that was being said, but it felt like a dream, like it was someone distantly talking to him, like it wasn't real. He didn't even notice when the bell rang until people started moving around him, jolting out of his dream-like state. He shook his head and shouldered his backpack. 

His next class was only one hallway over, so he cut through a small gap between them to get to it. When he sat down next to Keith, he was as pale as a ghost.

"You okay?" Keith asked, unpacking his bag. He dumped some crumpled paper onto his desk and a few pencils. Keith was trying to flatten the paper, but to no avail. It still lay there like a sad ball covered in wrinkles. Keith simply sighed in exasperation.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Geometry was just rough."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, Haggar's a bitch."

Lance didn't reply. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the little bit of Langst. Don't worry, things will get better.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is @noquiznaksweregiventhatday if you were wondering


End file.
